Worried about renting crisis

RAS

user19860331 said:

Thanks but Im confused... if I take out a 12-month AST, and then it comes to the end of the 12 months, then I dont see why the LL couldnt just tell me to leave? How would that be illegal?

It happened to me once before, I took out a 6 month AST and then, after 4 months, I got told that the LL was selling the place and I would have to move out once it got to the 6-month mark

The LL can "just tell you to leave". But the law says that you can stay, until the landlord gets permission from the courts to remove you.

There was no legal requirement for you to leave at the end of your 6-month tenancy. The LL and EA relied on your ignorance of tenancy law.

If you want to know who owns your home, go to the Land Registry and pay £3 to download the registration document. Avoid the rip off merchants who charge 10 times as much.

What you will be dealing with is an EA who relies upon getting the LL to pay nice fat fees for renewing the tenancy every 12 months. If being locked into a 12 month tenancy is a problem to you because you are going to need to move, just tell them you want to roll over to a periodic tenancy.

Do read your tenancy agreement and check precisely what it says about giving notice in the periodic tenancy. If it says nothing, your would revert to a Statutory Periodic Tenancy. 

And if you are looking at York, check the transport costs as cross-border journeys tend to be much higher than you might be used to.

RHemmings

_Penny_Dreadful said:

Given the number of threads still appearing on numerous forums about what happens at the end of fixed terms, repairs, etc which are answered in the booklet I wonder what’s the point if tenants aren’t going to bother reading the booklet. 

If the tenants weren't given the booklet, I'm sure there would be a lot of tenants claiming that they shouldn't be held to their legal responsibilities because 'nobody told me'. (Not suggesting that would work.) Giving them the booklet at least establishes even more firmly that it's clearly the tenant's fault if they are ignorant of what is in it. 

_Penny_Dreadful

RHemmings said:

_Penny_Dreadful said:

Given the number of threads still appearing on numerous forums about what happens at the end of fixed terms, repairs, etc which are answered in the booklet I wonder what’s the point if tenants aren’t going to bother reading the booklet. 

If the tenants weren't given the booklet, I'm sure there would be a lot of tenants claiming that they shouldn't be held to their legal responsibilities because 'nobody told me'. (Not suggesting that would work.) Giving them the booklet at least establishes even more firmly that it's clearly the tenant's fault if they are ignorant of what is in it. 

The booklet doesn’t give tenants more responsibilities than they already have now. We often see tenants posting demanding to know their rights as tenants, wouldn’t do them any harm to educate themselves on their responsibilities too or about the contract they signed. Same goes for some landlords. It astonishes me that some landlords enter into a contract whilst being totally clueless as to how to end it. 

The booklet is part of the prescribed information that landlords in England must provide so if landlords aren’t providing it to their tenants then they have a quite a serious problem. 

MultiFuelBurner

We leave a hard copy and email all tenants a link advising them to read it and keep it for their rights and advice.

The email link works out better as it picks up any revisions.

We also get them to sign that they have received it along with the EPC and elec/gas certs.

You can't make then read it but in the rare instance we have to issue a section 21/8 (very rare) we tell them to look to the how to rent information.

RHemmings

_Penny_Dreadful said:

RHemmings said:

_Penny_Dreadful said:

Given the number of threads still appearing on numerous forums about what happens at the end of fixed terms, repairs, etc which are answered in the booklet I wonder what’s the point if tenants aren’t going to bother reading the booklet. 

If the tenants weren't given the booklet, I'm sure there would be a lot of tenants claiming that they shouldn't be held to their legal responsibilities because 'nobody told me'. (Not suggesting that would work.) Giving them the booklet at least establishes even more firmly that it's clearly the tenant's fault if they are ignorant of what is in it. 

The booklet doesn’t give tenants more responsibilities than they already have now. We often see tenants posting demanding to know their rights as tenants, wouldn’t do them any harm to educate themselves on their responsibilities too or about the contract they signed. Same goes for some landlords. It astonishes me that some landlords enter into a contract whilst being totally clueless as to how to end it. 

The booklet is part of the prescribed information that landlords in England must provide so if landlords aren’t providing it to their tenants then they have a quite a serious problem. 

I wasn't saying that the booklet gives tenants more responsibilities (or rights) than they have now. Just that it makes clear to the tenant some of their rights and responsibilities so that they can't say that they weren't aware. Hence: useful even if they don't read it as every step has been taken to make sure that the tenants knew their rights and responsibilities. I'm also not saying that if they didn't get given the booklet that the tenants could then 'get away' with things. Just that even if unread the booklet makes it clear that suitable attempts have been made to make sure that the tenant is fully informed. 

If people are posting here asking things that the booklet covers, then it's reasonable to point that out to them and ask that they read the booklet in full.